The Werewolf Tycoon's Secret Baby (The Woolven Secret Book 2) (3 page)

“Because of what I am?”

“Because you’re male. You want to dominate and control. Already, you’re trying to manipulate me to get your way.”

“Because it’s best.” He didn’t understand why she couldn’t see the logic. She was an intelligent woman. Moving to Aphelion for safety made sense. One plus one equaled two. Or, in this case, three.

“Best for you.
I
don’t think it’s best. Why do you get to decide?”

Understanding dawned. Of course she was afraid. Her ex-husband had manipulated, threatened and abused her. She didn’t trust her own judgement when it came to men and her instinct was to retreat. He didn’t want her to feel like some cornered rabbit. She wasn’t prey, she was to be honored, cherished, and adored.

He gave a careless shrug that he hoped would lighten the tension. “Because I didn’t have any input for the first five years. You owe me a big one.”

When she didn’t respond, he spoke again. “I didn’t say it had to be tomorrow, just let me know it’s on the table.”

“I want to believe you. I want to believe that you’re only trying to do the right thing, the best thing. For Noah. And if you were Andrew Phillips, maybe I would. But you’re not. You’re
Drew fucking Woolven
. You take down companies that get in your way, devour them. You play hard and fast with the jet set crowd—”

“It is my deepest regret to inform you that’s all hype, manufactured for the gossip rags and to keep society focused on our scandals rather than the truth of who and what we are. Did you see harems of women when I was on Santorini? I just wanted to read and eat.”

She canted her head. “Don’t tell me you’re not a predator.”

He couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips. “Oh, I’m definitely a predator. But I’m not an Alpha. I’m just your average second stringer.”

“Bullshit.”

“Maybe.” He nodded. “But don’t shut me out. He’s my son, too. I want to be his father. I want to be part of his life.” A man in his position with his assets could easily take her to court and get sole custody. But the idea of that was so abhorrent to both man and wolf, it wasn’t even an option. “He’s our son,” he reiterated. “We’re supposed to do this together.”

“Give us time, okay?”

“I don’t know that we have it, Emmie. But I’ll give you as long as I can.”

“What does that mean?”

“Maybe I can tell you when you tell me how you knew about the Woolven Secret.” He knew it was time to make his exit. Anything else now would be lamenting the point. “I’m trusting you not to run from me. I’m trusting you to give me a fair shot.”

“And I’m trusting you not to kill me.”

D
rew left
Emmie’s little house on Bug Boot Lane, the name of the street courtesy of Eleanor Westwood’s niece, and immediately dialed Blake.

“We have a situation,” he said when Blake answered.

“Don’t tell me we have another one of those bastards running around with an immunity to silver. No, wait. Let me guess. An invasion of bone fairies? Because last time—”

He shuddered thinking about the bone fairies.
Nasty fuckers.
“No. There’s a Woolven heir.”

Blake coughed. “What? Excuse me? It’s not—Damn Parker. I told you someone should’ve had the talk with him about the birds, bees, and puppies.”

Drew felt his lip curl into a smirk even though his brother couldn’t see it. “It’s not Parker.”

“
You
?” There was a long silence. “Who is she? Does she pose a threat to the Secret?”

“The woman from Santorini I told you about, Emmie Anderson. She’s here in Den Hollow.” He took a deep breath. “With the boy—my son.”

“Are you sure?” Blake asked. “You know, with these kinds of resources at stake—”

“He has the birthmark, and I’ve seen him Change.”

“Shit. I assume you’ve already extended the invitation to Aphelion? Westwood can help with that.”

“I tried explaining that to her. She’s not interested.”

“Of course she’s not,” Blake replied drily. “Is she your mate?”

“I know my duty.” The words were sour on his tongue. He did, indeed, know his duty and it wasn’t with the lovely, golden, perfect Emmie—the mother of his child. It was his duty to care for them, but he couldn’t mate her. Not with the packs at war. They needed more alliances, and those were cemented with marriage—mating. Parker had already screwed up by marrying some waitress instead of the DeVaughn heiress. Uncle Warner was currently falling on that sword.

“I didn’t ask you about your duty. Is she your mate?”

“Yes.” That wasn’t the right answer. Well, it was the truthful one, but it he shouldn’t have said it, because it wasn’t an option.

“Then that supersedes everything else.”

“She doesn’t have anything to offer to Woolven.” Even as Drew spoke the words, he wanted to scrub them from his tongue. “I’ll do my duty.”

“Don’t be stupid. There’s a Woolven heir. Your duty is to protect him and his mother. Which means you need to bite her, mate her, and marry her. In that order.”

“Blake—”

“Are you really arguing with me, little brother?”

He could feel the weight of Blake’s Alpha power radiating over him, even across the phone. “Yeah, I am. Because I know you’re a good man and a noble wolf. You wouldn’t keep me from my true mate. But I know it’s best for the pack.”

“What’s best for the pack is protecting the heir. What’s best for the pack is showing the other nations that we’re strong enough to honor the bonds of true mates. We don’t need to harm our wolves to make alliances to stay strong. This is actually the best thing that could’ve happened. We’ve had candidates from all over the sub packs to be your bride. None of them are suitable, aside from the Ardennes offering, Victoria. But I have a feeling she belongs with Armand. She’s been locking horns with him since he got there.”

Drew sighed. “I want her, but she doesn’t want me. And don’t tell me to mark her against her will. I saw how you were with Randi.” His brother had refused to mark his mate against her will, even to keep her safe. Luckily, she’d come to the decision herself.

“It may not come down to what she wants, if she wants to stay alive. You know it takes an act of the Great Council to allow new humans to live with knowledge of our world. How do you think that vote would go?”

Rage boiled his blood and tore away his human veneer. His wolf rose and the Change came over him, his warrior form erupting from his flesh in a volcanic fury. His phone snapped in the grasp of his great claws, ending the call abruptly. He knew exactly how the vote would go. Emmie would die.

But they’d have to go through him first.

Drew got a grip on himself and forced his body back to his human form. He was extra pissed he’d torn the leather seats in his SUV. He didn’t know how other werewolves survived who couldn’t afford to replace all the shit they destroyed when they Changed.

He’d shredded his favorite suit, too.

Goddessdamnit.

He looked up just as he was about to put the vehicle in drive and saw a shock of rainbow hair blowing around in the breeze.

Gin
. She held a pink box with a big, cream organza bow.

Sugar fairies were his favorite people.

She waved and motioned for him to roll down his window.

“Checking to make sure I didn’t eat your friend?” he teased.

The fairy laughed. “You wouldn’t, not in any way she wouldn’t enjoy.” She winked at him. “I was able to whip up some more champagne truffles.”

He started to dig around for his wallet.

“No, they’re on the house. A congratulations on your recent fatherhood.” She shoved the box through the window.

“Thanks, Gin.”

“You know how you can thank me? Give me a ride back to the shop.”

“Get in.”

She went around to the passenger side and hopped in. “So, you know I don’t really need a ride. I want to give you some advice about Emmie.”

“I figured as much.” He warned his wolf to be cool, but it didn’t seem to take offense to the sugar fairy, which relieved him greatly. Whenever anyone got between a wolf and his mate before they were marked, even to offer helpful and non-confrontational advice, it could get really ugly.

“First, I am so glad you’re not an Alpha.”

He wasn’t sure if he should take that as a compliment or not. His wolf wanted to snarl at her, snap at her throat and show her that a Beta could be strong, a Beta could be the definition of an alpha male without being Alpha. But he breathed deep and exhaled his rising fury.

“An Alpha wouldn’t be able to let her make her own choices. I know Emmie pretty well. Her past is ugly and dark. Her ex-husband made it that way. I think she’ll come to you if you’re gentle. She speaks of her time in Santorini with a light in her eyes and a special curve to her smile. We sugar fairies are good at spotting all sorts of sugar, especially the sweet things like tenderness, hope, and love.”

“She doesn’t love me. We barely know each other.” His wolf growled in his head, angry that he would say that knowing she was his mate.

“No, maybe not yet. But she will, if you give her the space and freedom she needs to be safe.”

“The wolf nations are at war.” If it wasn’t common knowledge yet, it soon would be. There was no harm in telling the sugar fairy.

“I can see how that will be problem. Eat the truffles. They’ll help. Sweet things soothe the beast.” Gin winked.

They pulled up in front of the shop.

“We are safe here, aren’t we?” she asked.

“As safe as you can be. Westwood has re-enforced the boundaries.”

“Against the bone fairies, too?” She looked up at him, blue eyes wide and luminous. “I’ve been dreaming of them.”

The bone fairies had held her captive, done terrible things to her. And the Woolvens felt the residents of Den Hollow were as much pack as if they’d all been Turned. “I think after the last time they tried to cross our borders and Westwood tore the head off of their general with her bare hands, they’re content to move on to easier prey.”

Another box appeared in the fairy’s hand. “Speaking of, will you take her these cupcakes? They’re mocha cakes with Nutella frosting.”

“She’ll love them.”

“Happily Ever After is waiting for you. Don’t fuck it up.” She closed the door and unlocked her shop.

Don’t fuck it up. Yeah
. Guilt weighed heavily on his shoulders. Just by acknowledging he had a true mate, he might have fucked things up for the pack. He didn’t envy Blake the choices he had to make as Alpha. Not at all.

The first thing he did back at Aphelion was find Mrs. Westwood.

She was currently wearing her maiden body. He didn’t like it. He narrowed his eyes when he saw her. “Going bar-hopping or something?” Drew nodded to her choice of attire—a much too tight dress and six inch heels. Of course, then there was the matter of her face. Not a kindly granny wrinkle in sight. Or a gray hair. It fell down her back in soft black waves. She looked every inch a succubus.

Not. Okay
.

She laughed. “You’re old enough to know how these things work, Drew.”

“No, I’m really not.” He shook his head. “Can I please have Westwood back? You’re Eleanor. I don’t like it.”

She laughed again, way too amused for his liking. “Serves you right, you furry little terror.” But she adopted her grandmotherly veneer, gray bun and kindly wrinkles all where they were supposed to be.

“Much better, thank you.”

Mrs. Westwood canted her head to the side and touched his cheek. “Oh, this is serious. What’s happened?” Her lips thinned. “Did someone…” Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll smite them.” She took her role as caretaker to the lot of them very seriously.

Drew could honestly say he’d never want to be on the wrong end of that witch.

“No, nothing like that. At least not yet. I need you to gather your supplies for the spell that will keep a young wolf from Changing until he’s ready.”

“Is Randi—” Her eyes widened.

“No, Blake’s mate isn’t with young. The Woolven heir has already been born. He’s my son.” Every time he said the words “my son,” pride swelled in his chest.

“When’s he coming to Aphelion?”

“As soon as I can convince his mother.”

“I’ll convince her.” Westwood lifted her chin.

“No, no.” He shook his head. “It has to be her choice.”

“I can make it her choice.”

“No. Not like that. She’s in Den Hollow, so she’s safer than she would be outside of our borders. I’ll bring her, but let me do it my own way.”

“Oh, Drew. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Come with me tomorrow. If she’ll allow it, you can cut his hair.”
Two birds, one stone
, Drew thought.

“Done.” She patted his cheek. “But are you sure you don’t want to use the spell as a bargaining tool? I’ll do it, but only if she—”

“No.” His wolf rose again in defense of her.

Westwood’s next pat on his cheek was a little harder—a warning. “Don’t flash your wolf eyes at me, young man. Or I’ll tie you outside tied to a tree like I did when you were little.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re a good boy to defend your mate. Just remember who you’re talking to.”

As if he could forget.

“By the way, Warner is back with the DeVaughn girl. He has her at the cabin on the north side of the property. Her bags were delivered this morning. If you could take them out to her?”

“Or you could…” He motioned with his hand as if he were casting a spell.

“I could. But then you wouldn’t be able to tell the DeVaughn Alpha when he calls that you’ve seen his daughter and she is whole and healthy. This bride stealing nonsense is so eighteen hundred.”

“Honestly, why would he call? We could lie. It’s not as if he can come and demand proof. He’s already chosen to side with Remus.”

“I believe he has other motivations. Now go on. I have things to do.” She peered down at his hands where he still held the box of cupcakes. “Are you forgetting something?”

“No, I didn’t forget. You didn’t let me get a word in edgewise.”

She held out her hand and he presented her the cupcakes.

“I love that little sugar fairy. She’s such a dear. I think she needs a mate, too. I’m going to find her one.”

“Do you really think meddling is the way to repay her kindness?”

She cocked her eyebrow. “Of course it is. Sometimes, for being a sly wolf, you’re awfully stupid.” She shook her head and shoved a cupcake in her mouth as she disappeared down the long hall.

Drew decided it was an amazing thing he had any self-confidence at all growing up with these sorts of influences.

“I heard that…” The witch’s voice echoed to him from seemingly out of nowhere.

“I know,” he answered and ducked, just as a he felt a swoosh of air against the back of his head. “I can’t go check on the heiress if you knock me out, witch.”

“Mrs. Westwood to you, boy,” the voice thundered.

“So when are you going to find a nice warlock to settle down with instead of meddling with other people?”

The whoosh didn’t miss this time.